Henry Rayner
Published: 2018-03-21
Total Pages: 940
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Excerpt from The Journal of Mental Science, Vol. 45: January, 1899 The number of lunatics registered as under care are in the proportion Of rather more than five to one Of the admissions. A simple sum shows that there were of these ought to be private patients under care at the beginning of this year 8420 but the Commissioners' general summary shows that at that time there were classed as private patients in all the institutions only 4076, showing that more than one half are under care as paupers. If we accept the same ratio for the females of these classes as we have found to Obtain among the males, it is evident that at least 9000 patients, distinctly above the pauper class, are being housed and kept as paupers for no fault of their own. Turning now to the position of those patients who are officially classed as private, no less than 1254 are treated in county and borough asylums. These are chiefly distributed among 31 asylums (the remaining 37 county and borough asylums taking practically no private patients). At least half Of these 12 54 are also compelled to associate with paupers, as most of the 31 asylums can have no separate provision for their private patients. I ought here to mention that in a certain number of county and borough asylums special and in some cases separate accommodation for private patients at low charges has been provided. The Cornwall, Cumberland, Cheshire, Denbigh, Prestwich, Northampton, Leicester, and Portsmouth asylums have for a considerable time accommodated 30 to 40 private patients each. Exeter has 67. Three Yorkshire county asylums have about 70 private patients each, and, to the credit of the York shire Lunacy Authorities, a separate asylum is now being built in Wharfedale for 2 10 private patients. Birmingham city, the Isle of Wight, and Leicester borough asylums are following suit. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.